The Darwin Conspiracy

Since the beginning, Darwin's theory was attacked by his contemporary fellows, but this book tried to take this to a whole other level, building on a story which, supposedly, shows us the naturalist's darker side. Darnton made a bold choice by giving us this unique vision of the man who changed the way we see the world.

Throughout the book, the story is being told under 3 different points of view, each with their own mysteries. We accompany the H.M.S. Beagle's trip, with the young Charles Darwin on board, aswell as through his daughter Bessie's journals, his older years, and finally the journey of two modern investigators and their discoveries. All this is interwoven in a very curious and effective manner.

The narrative could perhaps become dense or tedious at some points, so this "voice changing" in the book is certainly a welcome addition and tends to help the reader keep his attention and interest. In my opinion, the author managed to balance both rich narrative depth and the reader's entertainment in a very interesting way, giving our investigators a life's story which is also a point of interest, despite the fact that it does not contribute to the main plot.

The way the book is written makes us think twice about all the facts we don't really know or have about our history (as a species or a particular civilization) and face historical characters, their lives and stories from a different perspective, from here on questioning ourselves about who they really were (other than their legend).

I believe the author tried to get us to question what is real and fiction in his story, and maybe, raise the interest in a real Darwin's biography. John Darnton achieves this particular marriage of history and fiction in a very harmonious way.

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